Danbury awards Dallaswood Avenue roof to Barrett, renews on-call contracts and approves equipment purchases

The Danbury City Board of Awards voted June 11 to award the Dallaswood Avenue roof replacement to Barrett for the base bid of $2,896,000, pending confirmation of funds, execution of contract documents and state CHRO approval, and approved a slate of procurement actions including contract renewals, equipment purchases and change orders.

Chick Volpe, the city’s purchasing agent, opened the meeting and read the roster of staff and advisors present, then led board action on seven agenda items and one late addition. The board approved exercising two-year renewal options on previously awarded on-call engineering and water‑system consulting contracts after the firms submitted updated fee schedules and certificates of insurance.

The meeting’s most contested discussion focused on the add-on Dallaswood Avenue roof replacement (bid #04242502). Petrocella, an architect on the bid review team, said Greenwood Industries submitted the apparent low base bid of $2,074,000 but proposed a roofing system that deviated from the design documents and required full removal and a different attachment method than the plans specified. "They were proposing a roof system that was a deviation from the design documents," Petrocella said, and recommended against accepting Greenwood’s deviation because it would require design revisions and could raise liability and permitting issues.

Procurement staff also reported that the second-low bidder did not meet the state Department of Administrative Services (DAS) prequalification limit for a single project (their prequalification cap was $2,000,000 while their bid exceeded that threshold), leaving Barrett as the lowest responsive, responsible bidder that complied with the plans and specifications. Petrocella told the board Barrett had confirmed it carried the specified roof system and could meet the project schedule. The board moved to award the base bid to Barrett for $2,896,000; staff said funding would be charged to capital accounts CP2425 BND and related project codes and that final award was contingent on CHRO approval and execution of contract documents.

Other actions the board approved included:

• Rejecting all three bids for the Haystown Avenue School elevator rehabilitation and rebidding the work after staff discovered a required state reimbursement form was missing from the bid package, which could jeopardize state reimbursement during audit.

• Increasing an existing purchase order for construction observation services on the White Street and Locust Avenue intersection improvements by $100,000 to cover unforeseen field conditions and an extended schedule.

• Approving a purchase order to Northwest Hills Chevrolet for a 2025 Chevrolet service truck for the public utilities department at a quoted price of $68,089.74 under the Connecticut state contract.

• Renewing on-call consulting services for water transmission, distribution and treatment upgrades with four firms (Dana and Howard; WSP USA; GHD; and Wright-Pierce) for an additional two-year term with updated fees.

• Approving a change order for pump upgrades at the Beaverbrook Pump Station to address material price increases (staff cited an adjusted total of roughly $211,972 for the contract after the change order).

• Awarding purchase orders to Vehicle Service Group for two vehicle lifts (a two-post lift quoted at $29,314.56 and a four-post lift quoted at $70,107.53) under the NASPO/state cooperative contract adopted into Connecticut (state contract 22PSX0228).

Board members recorded votes on several items; Deputy Corporation Counsel Robin Edwards and Finance Director Dan Garrick were among those verbally recorded as voting in favor during roll calls, and the chair declared motions carried unanimously on each action.

The purchasing agent said procurement staff would place award letters and the architect’s bid-review letter in the project files and complete contract execution steps as required. With no further business, the board adjourned.